New Japanese research finds that linalool, a fragrant compound in lavender, can help lessen anxiety by stimulating the nose to pass signals to the brain, not by being absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs.

World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2015, estimates that 3.6 percent of the global population suffers from anxiety disorders. The number varies from country to country.

Study co-author Dr. Hideki Kashiwadani, of the Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences at Kagoshima University, says: “Our study also opens the possibility that relaxation seen in mice fed or injected with linalool could, in fact, be due to the smell of the compound emitted in their exhale breath.”